


you hold the key to my heart

by falloutmars



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, In the queue, Meet-Cute, it's a whole funny time, oh and a donut, that's literally it - Freeform, they meet in a bakery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27726994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falloutmars/pseuds/falloutmars
Summary: Jughead grins to himself like an idiot when he walks through the door. He can see it. He can see the final pink-glazed donut staring right at him, the rainbow sprinkles begging him to eat it. And oh boy will he absolutely devour this donut. He has been waiting all fucking day.And what a day it’s been, too.If anyone needs some luck (and sugar) in the form of his favorite donut from his favorite bakery, it’s Jughead.–or, someone stands between Jughead and his donut.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 32
Kudos: 78
Collections: 8th Bughead Fanfiction Awards - Nominees





	you hold the key to my heart

**Author's Note:**

> i am back on my bullshit with this meet cute
> 
> enjoy!
> 
> (sorry if i make you hungry)

Jughead grins to himself like an idiot when he walks through the door. He can see it. He can see the final pink-glazed donut staring right at him, the rainbow sprinkles begging him to eat it. And oh boy will he absolutely devour this donut. He has been waiting all fucking day. 

And what a day it’s been, too.

If anyone needs some luck (and sugar) in the form of his favorite donut from his favorite bakery, it’s Jughead. 

It’s on days like today that he severely regrets choosing manual labor as a stopgap job between graduating college and finishing his novel. He’s tired, he’s stressed, his back hurts like hell, but at least it’s Friday. And at least he’s only minutes away from that donut. 

Behind the counter is a server he recognizes. He’s called Sweet Pea if he remembers rightly, and he knows just how much Jughead looks forward to his donut. On a normal, less stressful day, he’d be in at lunch to ensure he gets one. Today, a stress- _filled_ day, it’s past six p.m., and so he’s even more grateful to see a donut still there as if it’s waiting for him.

Sweet Pea clocks him as he walks through the door, sending him a smile of recognition. Jughead aims his shit-eating grin at him, so he looks like less of an idiot for smiling at a donut, wandering over to join the back of the queue.

Of course there’s a fucking queue. On a day like today when all he wants is to stuff his face with sugar, he has to _wait_. 

But it’s okay, he tells himself. It’ll be worth the wait for the donut. The donut and the largest size coffee this bakery does. He needs it. He needs the copious amounts of sugar and caffeine just to power him on enough to get home and collapse on the couch in front of one of those crappy Netflix films he’s been meaning to watch for at least three months. 

Then he’ll treat himself to a takeaway. Oh boy, he’s in for a good evening by himself. 

Well, that’s what he’s hoping anyway. He needs that hope, too, after the day he’s had.

The queue goes down relatively quickly. Sweet Pea and his colleague—a woman with pink-purple hair Jughead doesn’t recognize—seem to be working fast. Sweet

Pea on serving and the other on coffee. 

Thank _god_. The donut god. 

As he edges forward, Jughead keeps his eye on his donut. The final donut. It’s surrounded by various other baked goods that the customers in front of him seem to be interested in. Slices of cake, mini tarts, croissants. It all looks amazing, but not quite as good as he knows the donut is. 

Now the second person in the queue, his eyes are fixed to the donut. It’s covered in sprinkles, even more than usual, he thinks. The glaze looks to be a perfect consistency, just dripping ever so slightly down the sides. His mouth is practically watering at the sight of it. 

In front of him, he distantly hears Sweet Pea splurt out his usual _‘hi, what can I get for you today?’_ as he daydreams about the donut. It’s almost time, he thinks to himself, smiling again. 

But then the woman in front leans over him and points. “...and… This one, please.”

“The donut?” asks Sweet Pea.

“Yes. Thank you.”

“What the fuck?” Jughead spits, part of him not exactly meaning to say it out loud but part of him _pleased_ he does. 

The woman turns around to look at him. “Excuse me?” she says in an almost accusatory way. She folds her arms against her chest and scowls at him.

And he just lets loose, voice raised and arms flailing. “I’ve been waiting _all fucking day_ for that donut. And it’s been a really fucking bad day at that! All I wanted is that donut! And now you’ve gone and fucking stolen it!”

Sweet Pea stands awkwardly, avoiding Jughead gaze, while the acting barista busies herself with making coffee for no one. Luckily for everyone involved, the queue died down after Jughead came in, so it’s just the four of them. 

After a (long) moment of hellishly awkward silence, the woman drops her arms to her sides and starts laughing. “Are you done yet?”

Jughead furrows his brows at her. “Sorry?”

“Is that your dramatic performance for the day?” she says, giggling. “Because if so, I’d give you a Golden Globe. Probably not an Academy Award, though. Sorry.”

Over the counter, Sweet Pea sniggers, his hand flying up in an attempt to cover his smirk. 

Embarrassed, Jughead thinks about just turning around and walking straight back out. God. He’s such a fucking idiot, isn’t he? All over a donut. 

In his defense… Yeah, he has no defense. Other than the sugary sweetness he’s about to miss out on. 

But if he leaves, he’ll probably fall asleep on the subway or something and wake up on the other side of the city, so he at least needs to stay _like a man_ (bullshit, in his opinion) and order a coffee. And a slice of cake. 

So he mutters a “Sorry,” pleased his woolen beanie can hide the majority of his embarrassment in the form of his reddening ears. 

She shakes her head in amusement, smiling as she turns back to Sweet Pea. “Anyway, as I was saying, I’ll take the donut. Thanks.”

Sweet Pea nods slowly. “Are you sure? Even after his Golden Globe worthy performance.”

She laughs again. “Even more so now.”

Jughead watches as Sweet Pea uses the tongs to pick up the donut, _his_ donut, and put it in a paper bag, sliding across the counter to the customer. As if on cue, the barista brings her coffee over, and she thanks them both before wandering out, looking happier than ever. 

As Jughead takes a tentative step towards the counter, Sweet Pea sends him a sympathetic smile. “Sorry, man. I’ll sort you a slice of cake instead.”

He nods. “And a coffee, please.”

His order takes just a few moments. He grabs it from the counter, sending them both smiles in place of thanks, and walks out, dread and embarrassment weighing him down.

“Hey,” a happy-go-lucky voice says.

He jumps. He actually jumps until he realizes that it's the donut stealer as he's so gracefully nicknamed her. Gripping his paper bag of cake, he sends her a look of disapproval. "Are you after my chocolate cake now too?"

She laughs. She _laughs_ at him. 

Okay, so it’s entirely possible that her laugh is... well, cute. If you can call a thief cute. Which Jughead can and does. Privately. And it'll stay that way.

“No,” she says once she’s finished laughing. “I actually wanted to apologize.”

He blinks. “You– What?”

“I wanted to apologize. Y’know, for the donut.”

“Um, okay?” 

This time, she flashes him a smile. “I’m sorry. You sound like you’ve had a really shit day.”

“Yeah,” he says with a hollow laugh. “You can say that again.”

She holds out the hand that isn’t clutching her coffee and donut. “I’m Betty.”

Hesitating, he decides to take it, shaking it quickly. “Jughead.” 

“Huh.”

He can tell she’s trying to stifle a laugh. It’s not the first time and no doubt it won’t be the last. His name is different, weird even. People think it’s funny. It’s fine. It’s fine even when it happens after a bad day that ended in a cute girl stealing the donut you’d waited all day for. 

It’s _fine_.

(It’s not fine.)

“Anyway,” he mutters, “I’d better be off now.” He turns around, deciding the best way forward is just to make a break for it. He won’t see her again. It doesn’t matter if he’s a little rude. 

Except as he’s speeding off away from both her and the donut, she calls after him. “Hey, Jughead, wait!”

He turns around despite his better judgment. _She’s pretty_ , he thinks when he meets her eyes again, but he eternally curses himself for thinking such things. 

She jogs over to him. He’d only gotten about fifteen feet away, so it’s entirely unnecessary, but he can appreciate the sentiment nevertheless. 

“I really am sorry,” she tells him sincerely. She takes a step back, glancing down at the floor before back up at him. “Will you let me apologize properly?”

“How?” he says automatically before adding, “Wait, and why? You don’t know me.”

Betty shrugs. “You seem nice. And you had a bad day.” She smiles. “If I can make that better, I’d like to.”

Suspicious, he narrows his eyes at her, scoffing. “After you only made my day worse?”

“I’m sorry.” She holds up the paper bakery bag, the one he knows holds the donut he wanted. “A peace offering?”

“All of it?”

She grins. “Half. And some company.”

“Deal.”

**Author's Note:**

> are you hungry? same. i want a donut now.
> 
> but for real, what did you think? writing meet cutes is fun and i hope reading them is too!! let me know your opinion in a comment if you so desire. i live for ao3 emails alerting me of kudos and comments. 
> 
> thank you and stay safe! <3


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